A Note to V. M. Molotov with a Motion for the C.C., R.C.P.(B.)

Written:Written September 15, 1921Published:First published in 1939 in the journalProletarskaya RevolutsiaNo. 1.

      Printed from the manuscript.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      1st English Edition,

      Progress Publishers,1965,

      Moscow,Volume 42,

      pages343c-344a.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:D. WaltersPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2003).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

ComradeMolotov,

Fromall sides I hear that recommendations (in connection with the
Party

purge[1]) are being given right and left as a favour.

Ipropose that a circular be published by the C.C. (by arrangement with
and over the signatures of the Central Control Commission and the
Verification Commission):

“Recommendationsmay be given only by those who have personally
observed the work of the person recommend-ed for at least one year, and
have worked together with him in one or another Party

organisation.”[2]

[1]TheParty purge was carried out in compliance with the resolu-tion of
theTenth Congressof the R.C.P.(B.) “On Problems of Party
Developmept—it was preceded by long and careful preparation. On June 21,
1921, the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission adopted a
Decision on Checking, Revising and Purging the Party (seePravdaNo. 146 for June 30, 1921), which fixed the date for the purge to be
carried out (from August 1 to October ii, 1921), stipulated that working
people, both Communists and non-Party, were to be questioned concerning
members of the Party who were being checked, and defined the procedure for
setting up local verification commissions. During the period of the purge
admission into the Party was suspended, an exception being made in the case
of workers and peasants who did not exploit outside labour. On July 7 the
Politburean endorsed a Central Verification Commission for checking the
Party membership and local verification commissions. The Central Committee
of the Party addressed a letter “To All Party Organisations. On the
Purging of the Party” (seePravda No. 163 for July 27, 1921) setting
forth the aims and methods of the purge. The C.C. recommended the following
guidelines: a more indulgent attitude towards workers in the matter of
pre-santing documents, testimonials, etc. Asregards peasants, a cleanline should be drawn between kulak and proprietary elements and honest
working peasants. A stricter approach to “commis-sarifled” elements, to
those holding posts which involve any priv-ileges. An especially strict
check to be applied to former govern-ment officials and bourgeois
intellectuals. And strictest of all to former members of other parties,
per., the Mcnsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. The start of the purge
was put off until August 15.

Asa result of the purge, which continued up till the
Eleventh Congress of the R.C.P.(B.) about 25 per cent of the membership
were expelled from the Party. This improved the Party’s social composition,
strengthened discipline, gave the Party greater prestige among the
non-Party worker and peasant masses and freed the Party from elements who
discredited it. The Party’s ideological and organisational unity was
enhanced.

[2]Thisdirective of Lenin’s was incorporated in the C.C.’s decisions.
The “Report of the Central Committee of the R.C.P.” for September 1921
states that the C.C. passed two decisions concerning the procedure for
recommending members of the R.C.P. during the purge. One stated: “Only
those comrades have the right to recommend who have known the recommended
person not less than one year and have worked with him or observed his work
in one or another Party organisation”. The other decision spoke about the
responsibility of the recommenders for the recommended (seeIzvestia of
the C.C., R.C.P.No. 35, December 1, 1921).